The L.A. Times music blog

People's Choice Awards: Celebrating the music of the masses

January 11, 2012 | 4:20
pm

Unlike the Grammy Awards, which crafts its list of nominees from a secretive group of tastemakers and music insiders and is therefore suspect by outsiders wondering about the intentions of the committee, Wednesday night's People's Choice Awards offer no pretense that any nominee is qualitatively better than the others. Rather, the PCAs honor popularity, the tastes of the masses, and offer those same masses the opportunity to decide for themselves which artist is better than the others. It's like being named homecoming king and queen by Wednesday night American network television viewers.

Who represents the people this year in music? A narrow mix of pop, country and rock artists, all of whom are backed by a major label: Among those with the most nominations are Katy Perry, LMFAO, Taylor Swift, Adele, Lady Gaga, Beyoncé, Lady Antebellum, Foo Fighters, Coldplay and the rest of the musical winners who have reigned over the pop world for the last year.

For example, which of these five is your favorite record of 2011? Is it Britney Spears' "Femme Fatale," Lady Gaga's "Born This Way," "4" by Beyoncé, "Own the Night" by Lady Antebellum or Adele's "21"? And was LMFAO's "Party Rock Anthem" the best song of last year, or was it "Moves Like Jagger" by Maroon 5 and featuring Christina Aguilera? Tonight's show, which will be broadcast on ABC at 9 and feature performances by Faith Hill and Demi Lovato, will finally offer resolution to these and many other nail-biters.

For a full list of nominations and a stream of the red carpet, head here.